Got Your ACE Score?

What’s Your ACE Score?

There are 10 types of childhood trauma measured in the ACE Study. Five are personal — physical
abuse, verbal abuse, sexual abuse, physical neglect, and emotional neglect. Five are related to other
family members: a parent who’s an alcoholic, a mother who’s a victim of domestic violence, a family
member in jail, a family member diagnosed with a mental illness, and the disappearance of a parent
through divorce, death or abandonment. Each type of trauma counts as one. So a person who’s been
physically abused, with one alcoholic parent, and a mother who was beaten up has an ACE score of
three.

There are, of course, many other types of childhood trauma — watching a sibling being abused,
losing a caregiver (grandmother, mother, grandfather, etc.), homelessness, surviving and recovering
from a severe accident, witnessing a father being abused by a mother, witnessing a grandmother
abusing a father, etc. The ACE Study included only those 10 childhood traumas because those were
mentioned as most common by a group of about 300 Kaiser members; those traumas were also well
studied individually in the research literature.

The most important thing to remember is that the ACE score is meant as a guideline: If you
experienced other types of toxic stress over months or years, then those would likely increase your
risk of health consequences.

Prior to your 18th birthday:

1. Did a parent or other adult in the household often or very often… Swear at you, insult you, put
you down, or humiliate you? or Act in a way that made you afraid that you might be physically
hurt?
No___If Yes, enter 1 __
2. Did a parent or other adult in the household often or very often… Push, grab, slap, or throw
something at you? or Ever hit you so hard that you had marks or were injured?
No___If Yes, enter 1 __
3. Did an adult or person at least 5 years older than you ever… Touch or fondle you or have you
touch their body in a sexual way? or Attempt or actually have oral, anal, or vaginal intercourse
with you?
No___If Yes, enter 1 __
4. Did you often or very often feel that … No one in your family loved you or thought you were
important or special? or Your family didn’t look out for each other, feel close to each other, or
 support each other?
No___If Yes, enter 1 __
5. Did you often or very often feel that … You didn’t have enough to eat, had to wear dirty clothes,
and had no one to protect you? or Your parents were too drunk or high to take care of you or
take you to the doctor if you needed it?
No___If Yes, enter 1 __
6. Were your parents ever separated or divorced?
No___If Yes, enter 1 __
7. Was your mother or stepmother:
Often or very often pushed, grabbed, slapped, or had something thrown at her? or Sometimes,
often, or very often kicked, bitten, hit with a fist, or hit with something hard? or Ever repeatedly
hit over at least a few minutes or threatened with a gun or knife?
No___If Yes, enter 1 __
8. Did you live with anyone who was a problem drinker or alcoholic, or who used street drugs?
No___If Yes, enter 1 __
9. Was a household member depressed or mentally ill, or did a household member attempt
suicide? No___If Yes, enter 1 __
10. Did a household member go to prison?
No___If Yes, enter 1 __

Now add up your “Yes” answers: _ This is your ACE Score

__________________________

Now that you’ve got your ACE score, what does it mean?

First….a tiny bit of background to help you figure this out…..(if you want the back story about the
fascinating origins of the ACE Study, read The Adverse Childhood Experiences Study — the largest,
most important public health study you never heard of — began in an obesity clinic.)

The CDC’s Adverse Childhood Experiences Study (ACE Study) uncovered a stunning link between
childhood trauma and the chronic diseases people develop as adults, as well as social and emotional
problems. This includes heart disease, lung cancer, diabetes and many autoimmune diseases, as well
as depression, violence, being a victim of violence, and suicide.

The first research results were published in 1998, followed by 57 other publications through 2011.
They showed that:

 childhood trauma was very common, even in employed white middle-class, college-educated
people with great health insurance;
  there was a direct link between childhood trauma and adult onset of chronic disease, as well as
depression, suicide, being violent and a victim of violence;
 more types of trauma increased the risk of health, social and emotional problems.
 people usually experience more than one type of trauma – rarely is it only sex abuse or only
verbal abuse.

A whopping two thirds of the 17,000 people in the ACE Study had an ACE score of at least one — 87
percent of those had more than one. Eighteen states have done their own ACE surveys; their results
are similar to the CDC’s ACE Study.

The study’s researchers came up with an ACE score to explain a person’s risk for chronic disease.
Think of it as a cholesterol score for childhood toxic stress. You get one point for each type of trauma.
The higher your ACE score, the higher your risk of health and social problems. (Of course, other
types of trauma exist that could contribute to an ACE score, so it is conceivable that people could
have ACE scores higher than 10; however, the ACE Study measured only 10 types.)

As your ACE score increases, so does the risk of disease, social and emotional problems. With an
ACE score of 4 or more, things start getting serious. The likelihood of chronic pulmonary lung
disease increases 390 percent; hepatitis, 240 percent; depression 460 percent; suicide, 1,220
percent.

(By the way, lest you think that the ACE Study was yet another involving inner-city poor people of
color, take note: The study’s participants were 17,000 mostly white, middle and upper-middle class
college-educated San Diegans with good jobs and great health care – they all belonged to the Kaiser
Permanente health maintenance organization.)

Source: www.Acestoohigh.com – ACE’s Connection Network